Mobile wallet MoMo becomes ‘unicorn’ startup

The round was funded by a consortium of investors led by Japan’s Mizuho Bank, the company stated.

Investment funds Ward Ferry, Goodwater Capital and Kora Management made up the rest of the consortium.

A media representative said the company is not allowed to announce a specific figure but that MoMo’s valuation has exceeded $2 billion.

A unicorn startup company is valued from $1 billion.

Mizuho spent JPY$20 billion ($170 million) earlier to acquire a 7.5 percent stake in M-Service, which operates MoMo, according to Nikkei.

The Vietnamese payment company plans to use the new fund on expanding its market by providing digital transformation solutions to small and medium companies and invest in Vietnamese firms.

MoMo revealed it had 31 million users as of Dec. 21, nearly triple from September. Itis Vietnam’s largest e-wallet by users and aims to double the number of users to 50 million in the next two years, the company said in January.

It had 140,000 locations accepting its payment service and 50,000 business partners.

The company introduced several new financial services this year like quick loans and a credit wallet.

MoMo does not want to rush its initial public offering as it has raised enough money for now, the media representative said.